A Rising Tide Lifts all the Boats

President John F. Kennedy is probably best known for saying this statement in his 1963 Frankfort speak, as it related to a positive economy and everyone doing better. A few months ago, I had a lunch meeting with a friend of mine Corey Congilio and he said this same statement to me as it related to all of us helping each other in our musical pursuits. Corey is a gift musician, singer, songwriter and is featured on many of the TrueFire guitar lesson series. He has been out on tour with many big-name musicians and is currently out with David Lee Murphy. Like me, and many of you, Corey is constantly looking for ways to expand his foot print and increase his brand. Of late he has also been cutting videos such as “Surviving Guitar.” I find myself drawn to people like Corey as they are constantly evolving, trying new things and want to grow the area they are in. People like to meet with me for the same reasons to determine how I have achieved the success that I have in TV, Radio, Print and my interviews. Besides musicians, singers and songwriters I have made friends with inventors and manufacturers of musical products. All of us have similar goals and ambitions that require persistence. That is one of the biggest lessons I have learned is that success does not come quickly or easily. The inventor of Z Stand guitar stands reached out to me last week, Tony Meeks, and shared some advice his father gave him. Tony’s dad owned grocery stores and had a great career in the business. As he saw Tony struggling with his business he congratulated but also told him to keep pushing or get out of the way so that others can win – losers give up. Hard advice but also truth in it to a point that when we give up on a particular path we will not be a winner at that goal at the time. Not saying that we can’t try again, or try something different, but when we surrender the dream and throw in the towel someone else will win. I’m certain there are people in the world that find instant success, but I believe they are few and far between and that there are many more of us that are persistent. And there is something incredible that happens when we associate with other winners and creators and can see ourselves in that out. It also feeds ideas and new paths that we haven’t taken before by meeting and having conversations with those achievers. I’m certainly no where near where I want to reach in my goals, but I am much further than when I started. Seven years at TV interviews, over five years of writing music gear articles and almost three years with radio. My early interviews and articles weren’t stellar, but as I kept doing them each one got better and hopefully continue to. If we surround ourselves with positive goal-oriented achievers it makes us better, if we associate with negative people that blame the world or other people they will bring us down to their level. Natural talent is a great thing, but I have never felt gifted with much of that. I always felt I had to work harder, study more, put in more hours and constantly learn more to be better. The musicians, singers, songwriters, inventors and marketers that I associate with make me better than I would be without them around me. When they win or succeed I feel that I do, and I believe they feel the same when I have success. JFK was right “A Rising Tide Lifts All of the Boats.” We all should ponder helping each other, lifting each other up and then we all win and we all succeed together.

It takes a Crew to Steer a Boat!